Will a Full Page Ad Guarantee a Review?

The ads may be only part of the process.
The company has to GIVE the equipment to someone who is a reviewer, and that reviewer has to use it and then get ok to publish a review from the editor.
The co-incidence of ads and published reviews is more than just payola. The companies find out when the review will be published and often take out ads for that issue to reinforce the product.
I do not think it is a matter of who pays off whom.

hi warrenh, have you considered the inverse, will a favorable review guarntee an advertising contract for a year ?

Reviewing and advertising are handled by completely different aspects of a magazine. Reviewers don't know whose ads will appear till they see the their copy of the issue.

The stastics have been posted ad nauseum but people don't seem to care about facts that don't coincide with their misconceptions...

Being a reviewer, I would have to say that Nrchy is correct. Normally I have no clue about who is advertizing in my magazine, and who is not.

Mrtennis, the answer is "NO" -- a favorable review will definitely not guarantee an advertising contract. Not at the mags I've written for, anyway.